A harsh reality for the Bulls and their fans
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by user Leslie Monteiro
The Bulls and their fans got their swagger and arrogance back after what happened last Sunday. Chicago swept the listless Miami Heat in four games. It took nine years since the Bulls won a first-round playoff series.
Now, the team and their fans are in a delusion of grandeur about how their team is ready to win a championship.
Andres Nocioni, who plays the role of a goon for the Bulls, has been talking trash about how his team will pull it out against the Pistons.
Bulls fans are talking about winning the series in five or six games.
The Chicago papers have basically ticketed the Bulls to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Maybe last night's 95-69 loss will send the team and their fans back to Earth.
The Bulls are not playing a patsy anymore as they learned the hard way last night.
They ain't playing a team that was old and injured in Miami.
They are playing a team that has a very good pedigree in the postseason in the Detroit Pistons.
Detroit let them know right away that they are not playing around. After all the talk about how the Bulls are ready to make their mark against the Pistons, the Pistons were motivated from the start of the game.
The Pistons stars played with a chip on the shoulder from the onset.
Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, and Tayshaun Prince started hot in the first few minutes of the game. The starters also made some big plays defensively. They were able to alter Chicago's shots by blocking them and then forcing the Bulls to turn the ball over.
The Pistons went on a 13-2 run to give them a 20-11 lead that they would not relinquish after that.
One of the downfalls of the Pistons last year was that the bench players never developed into reliable players.
Pistons head coach Flip Saunders never had any trust in them as he overused his starters to the point that they became tired in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
It caught up to them last year against the Miami Heat as they lost to the eventual NBA Champs in 6 games.
Flip's boss, Joe Dumars has issued a mandate to him this year about giving guys like Jason Maxiell, Carlos Delfino, Lindsey Hunter, and Flip Murray significant playing minutes in the regular season so that they can be relied come playoff time.
This strategy paid off well for this game. The Pistons bench players did a great job in the second half.
They kept extending the lead by making shots after shots. It was imperative that they played well because they are going to be relied upon if they are going to win this series and beyond.
Saunders really did a great job of coaching this game last night. He had his team well-prepared out there. It showed in the very first quarter.
The best part was that he did a good job of distributing minutes with his starters and his bench players. He got everyone sharp. He deserved the credit for one night.
This was a very disappointing performance from the Bulls. They did a lot of talking yet they could not back it up.
They just looked horrible. No one played great at all.
If a team is going to do lot of talking, they should try to back it up by playing well. It just did not happen for them.
Maybe they were rusty. Either that or they underestimated the Pistons, which is probably most likely because they did not know what hit them.
Whatever it is, if the Bulls want to be taken seriously as a title contender, they have to prove it by getting it done in Game 2.
They will likely play much better. They can not be any worse.
The question is can they win and even the series.
If not, Bulls fans could be heading back to their bunker and Nocioni and company will have eggs in their face.
